The Washington Monument, the iconic marble tribute to the first U.S. president that strikes into the District of Columbia skyline, is sinking. There's no need to book a vacation to the capital to catch it before it slips away: The obelisk - which is 555 feet, 5 inches tall - has subsided only two inches since it was finished in 1884, according to new data from the National Geodetic Survey. Even at that rate, though, the subsidence eventually could spell problems for the monument, especially after it was rocked by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake in August.

Construction has begun on a landmark African American history museum on a National Mall site, a mile from where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke and even closer to where the nation's largest slave market once stood. That contradiction reflects the complicated story the National Museum of African American History and Culture will try to tell its visitors when it opens in 2015. President Obama joined former First Lady Laura Bush, Washington Mayor Vincent Gray and Smithsonian Institution Secretary Wayne Clough for a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday that was punctuated by jazz and a cappella music.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says he's ordered park officials to fix a paraphrased quote chiseled into the new Martin Luther King Memorial on the National Mall. Salazar told the Washington Post on Friday that National Park officials have 30 days to replace the quote, which drew quick complaints from black leaders, a King family member and others when the memorial was first unveiled last summer. The quote sits on the side of a large stone sculpture of King, the centerpiece of the monument.

The U.S. Secret Service is working to determine whether damage to an exterior window of the White House is linked to a Friday night shooting near the Washington Monument, after bullets were discovered at the presidential mansion Tuesday. The Secret Service's Uniformed Division, Washington's Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Park Police and other law enforcement agencies continue a joint effort to locate 21-year-old Oscar Ortega-Hernandez, based on evidence recovered from a vehicle found in the 2300 block of Constitution Avenue near the National Mall on Friday night after reports of shots fired near the Washington Monument.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't a big guy -- but he cast a long shadow. The nation's first black president, along with King's children and friends, dedicated the civil rights leader's granite memorial Sunday on the National Mall. They spoke of King's vision, his courage and his fight for racial and economic justice. And one of those friends, colleague Andrew Young, also spoke of King's stature. "He was only about 5 feet 7," Young said. "He was always upset about all the tall people looking down on him. Well, now he's 30 feet tall!"

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't a big guy. "He was only about 5 feet 7," said civil rights leader Andrew Young at Sunday morning's formal dedication of the granite memorial to his friend. "He was always upset about all the tall people looking down on him. Well now he's 30 feet tall!" Laughter erupted from the crowd of at least 30,000 who attended the dedication in a sunny West Potomac Park. It was a much smaller turnout than the 250,000 people that event organizers had expected on the monument's original dedication date, Aug. 28, the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington and King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

The 103-room Hotel Bel-Air reopens its doors Friday after a two-year redesign . The inn blends its former Spanish Colonial architecture with elegant new themes. Its signature oval swimming pool and swans remain . . . . Prime polar bear viewing season is beginning in Churchill, Canada, where the animals gather to cross Hudson Bay in their fall search for food . . . . As of this weekend, three Colorado ski resorts will be open : Arapahoe Basin, Loveland and Wolf Creek.

Unless it's postponed by Hurricane Irene, which is bearing down on Chesapeake Bay, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is scheduled for dedication Sunday on the National Mall in Washington. Symbolism is everything when it comes to such memorials, and perhaps the stormy opening is appropriate for a monument that has undergone a quarter-century of battles over design, location and funding. But King's history suggests that ferocious winds and driving rain are no match for a man of granite.

May 27, 2011 | By Benoit Lebourgeois, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Already the repository of several monuments of national significance, the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is set to become home to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial -- the first monument at the Mall to honor “a man of hope, a man of peace, and a man of color,” according to the foundation that built it. The official dedication takes place Aug. 28 on the 48 th anniversary of the historic “I Have a Dream” speech delivered...